Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Let's Put the Chi Back in Xmas

I don't know about you but I've always been kind of ticked off when I see the word "Christmas" abbreviated as "Xmas". Now, I've always had the philosophy that I shouldn't expect non-Christians to act like Christians but to take a Christian holiday centred around the person and identity of Jesus Christ and then take His name out and replace it with a generic "X" is just going too far.

Well, I guess I should say I felt that way until the fall of '98. It was my first semester of college at Bethany and I noticed that one of my profs used X to replace "Jesus" or "Christ" whenever he was writing notes on the blackboard. Some other freshmen and I were wondering if we were being taught by a heretic when we also noticed that he replaced "God" with some sort of 'circle with slash through it' symbol. Obviously something that we didn't understand was happening.

Our prof then explained that he was using letters from the Greek alphabet as shorthand for commonly used nouns. He was using the Greek letter "theta" (Θ) as an abbreviation for "God" because in Greek "God" is Θεος (theos).

He was using the Greek letter "chi" (Χ) as an abbreviation for "Jesus" and "Christ" because in Greek "Christ" is Χριστός (Christos).


All throughout Christian history Christians have used such abbreviations. The perfect example is the ΙΧΘΥΣ or, as it is more commonly known, the "Jesus Fish". The word ἰχθύς (ichthus) means "fish" in Greek. It is also, however, an acronym for: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.
This is what I'm talking about:

ΙΧΘΥΣ:
ησοῦς - Χριστός, - Θεοῦ - Υἱός, - Σωτήρ
Jesus - Christ, - of God - Son, - Saviour


The use of the ΙΧΘΥΣ symbol can be traced back to the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian (AD 81 - AD 96).

Another example of using Chi as a shorthand for Christ is the "Chi Rho". This can be directly traced to the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 300s. "Chi" and "Rho" are the first two letters in Χριστός (Christos) the Greek word for Christ:

XP
Χριστός
Christ

And so, my prof continued to explain, even the abbreviation for Christmas as "Xmas" is actually hundreds of years old and has it's roots, not in defaming Christ, but in a long history of religious short-hand. It's not "X-mas"... it's really "Chi-mas".

Who would have known!

But there still remains at least one question in my mind: Since most people don't know this background what do we do when people think that they are taking "Christ" out of Christmas and are doing it intentionally?

Of course, now we know better. They are really just joining in on a centuries old Christian tradition but they think they are making Christmas more politically correct.

Which brings us to "Happy Holidays" and "Seasons Greetings" and all that rubbish. How far do we take this?

I mean, if non-Christians have decided to celebrate our holiday then shouldn't they let us keep the name? I can't imagine people changing the name of Ramadan on the Muslims... that's just too politically incorrect.

What do you think?

6 comments:

Michael and Sharlene McDonald said...

Back in my heathen days I always thought that the "X" in X-mas was a short-form for Christ of some type. I just figured it was some funky type of cross or something... It wasn't until I had been in church for some time that I heard someone say that the X was a replacement of Christ...

I wonder if we've convinced ourselves of something that was never true.. the only people I've ever heard say that X is meant to supplant Christ are Christians...

Has anyone else actually read or heard that this is the case from a first hand source??

Anonymous said...

The true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. Its His birthday, and we should celebrate. Ok, I'm sure we all knew that....bear with me. My family has traditionally celebrated Christmas by getting together and eating....LOTS! Of course there are gifts, especially for the children. Lots of great Christmas memories.

I think we should get back to celebrating Jesus. Christmas is too comercialized. Gotta get all these gifts. Spend all this money. Gotta find the latest and greatest. WRONG!! What are you getting for Jesus? it's his birthday. Want to get something for your friends, get it for their birthday. Celebrate Jesus at Christmas. For our non-Christian friends, Spend your time and money getting together with your family. This is especially important now that families are often spread across the country.

As for "Happy Holidays"... At the Co-op we get our store windows painted each year with some sort of holiday theme. Usually happy holidays or seasons greatings, with a santa or something. This year I had "Merry Christmas" and a Manger scene painted. No flack from customers or upper management. Its our holiday, lets celebrate!!

thanks for listening to my rant.

Rick

Timothy Braun said...

Yeah, Rick. I had noticed that your were doing it up right at the Co-op this year. Nicely done!

I think you have some really good points here. Christmas had gotten really messed up over the years, that's for sure.

Anonymous said...

Preach it, brother! Actually, it still bothers me putting the X in because I know many people who do it intentionally because they are trying to take Christ out of Christmas. Just wait 'till I tell them about the history of the "X". Ha ha.

About the give giving, I do agree that Christmas has become too commercialized. In my opinion, if a person is getting stressed over gift giving and buying the "right thing" than perhaps they should stop getting gifts at all and remember why Christmas is really here. But on the other hand, for those of us who have the "gift of giving" so to speak, this is the perfect opportunity for us to give to the ones we love without getting the customary "thanks, what do you want..." response and the skepticism. It may be too commercialized, but I enjoy the giving spirit of Christmas. Besides, I see it as Christ came to give us the most important gift of all, himself. He came to give us love and forgiveness so why should we not take a small part of that and pass it on to someone else. Whether it be with a present, or a hug, or a card, or however you express your love to others.

Now I'm love ranting. At least they don't call me "Captain Theology". ha ha...right, Heather?

Anonymous said...

I meant "gift giving" not "give giving" like chim-chimney or something. Mary Poppins is so cool.

Lisa Sawatzky said...

Going back to this discussion... yesterday I was talking to a guy at work and he doesn't believe in "Christmas" as we believe. But I said, "Merry Christmas" and then corrected myself and said, "oh, sorry, Happy Holiday" and he got really upset. He said to me that it is the religious celebration of Christmas and if I want to say Merry Christmas than I should. So I took his words seriously and I wrote everyone "Merry Christmas" cards because I believe in Christ so why shouldn't I have a right to write the word "Christmas" on a card! I think that guy is really nice for helping me out.